Best graphics card for under £50?

C

Chris Rhys

Guest
Bought Quake 4 recently and really enjoying playing games again. Currently it's only on lowest settings with my FX5200 64MB. Would love to multiplayer it on high :cool:

I'd like to upgrade the card but confused on what to get with some 128mb cards being more expensive than the 256 etc...

I want to play that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion but understand it's very hungry...

Card has to be AGP, as there's no PCI express on my motherboard. Rest of setup is AMD 3000+ clawhammer and 1.5 gig RAM.

Any suggestions much appreciated.
 
oblivion brings even the mightest pc/gfx cards to it's knees!!!!

I would suggest trying to save a little bit more money to get the best you can for the money.
 
booyaka said:
oblivion brings even the mightest pc/gfx cards to it's knees!!!!
.

QFT
 
So is Oblivion actually unplayable with anything less? The recommended is (from memory) anything from the NVIDIA 6800 up. Ebuyer have got a Aopen Aeolus 6800LE dv128 128MB at £75... Up to the job?

But then I can get a Sapphire Radeon 9550 256MB for £35... Would this be a complete waste or would it be enough to run Quake 4 at higher quality and be able to cope with Oblivion?

I really am skint at the moment so then Radeon is very tempting but if it's a definite false economy then let me know.

Cheers.
 
the 6800le is the lowest of the 6800 cards I think. With your PC spec it would be best on your budget to try a 6800gt. Have look on the classifieds here. I have seen some quality 6800gt 256mb cards go for about £60 - £80. I have one in my PC and it runs most games fine. Although I haven't played Oblivion so can't answer that.
 
The Radeon is as old as the hills, I would steer clear of it, very slow card for modern games.
 
grab a radeon 9800pro m8 it plays oblivion just fine and youll easily get one for 50quid and your other games will see a nice boost as a 9800Pro is miles better than a 5600
 
my mistake when wanting to upgrade was setting a low amount, and I found that after a few months of gaming all the top games wouldnt play well.

I no money can be tight but why not do a upgrade that is going to last you the next few years with no worries of playing the latest titles, it will wrok best in the long run !!

Or just dont PC game and buy a xbox 360
 
Or just dont PC game and buy a xbox 360
As you can see from my sig I ventured into Xbox 360 territory (my first console) and was over-whelmingly disappointed:

Call of Duty 2 ... looked and played better on my PC (Geforce 6800 Ultra) so played on that
Condemned ... played the whole game through on the 360 but also got the PC version and felt it was much better (largely due to the controls)
Oblivion ... looks much better on my PC (Geforce 7950GX2) with considerably longer look distance, better character handling, easier menu handling and sof forth
Tomb Raider ... free look with mouse/keyboard as essential in this game as any FPS

I am yet to find a game on the 360 worth playing...hopefully Dead Rising will be the first...but a year after purchasing all the 360 is used for is media streaming. Quite damning statement IMHO.
 
blizzard said:
grab a radeon 9800pro m8 it plays oblivion just fine and youll easily get one for 50quid and your other games will see a nice boost as a 9800Pro is miles better than a 5600

whilst i agree that a 9800pro is miles better than any 5 series nvidia, i cant help but think thaty it will struggle hugely with oblivion with even a hint of detail even at 1024x768, ive not tried running oblivion with a card lower down the scale of things, but as mentioned above oblivion will make full grown gfx cards cry on their knee's
 
You have tried the wrong games there. Best games IMO on the 360 are, Hitman, NFS:MW, PGR3, Burnout and others. Try some of them, they look and play awesome on the 360.

And also, to the original poster, that card of Rasczak's is awesome for the money. If you can find the extra £20 I'd definitely go for it. It will be miles better than a £50 Radeon 9800pro.
 
You really need to spend more money. I play Oblivion on a X1900XT and outdoors it can go as low as 28 fps at times. Still playable though.

Overclockers do a x1600pro 256mb for £88.07 +postage

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ATI_AGP_Graphics_Cards.html

7th down. Alternatively try to find a X800xt or x850xt second hand. I know x850xtPE have gone for only £90!!
 
sorry for jumping in here but Rasczak whats tomb raider like on the pc as ive got it here and was wondering if game is good.and again sorry for jumping in
 
Just picked a 7600GT up from overclockers for £75+VAT.

Well, WELL worth it.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom